I decided this week that I had to start looking for another church. Over the past 6 months or so, our church has been debating whether or not to adopt a new constitution. Over this period, I became increasingly uncomfortable with the way things were being done. I figured it would be a good idea to do a short series of entries on what I’ve learned through the whole experience.
The first lesson I’ve learned is that having good theology does not automatically mean you’ll have a good church. Anyone who knows me well knows that I place a high value on theology. If you go over to the “Papers” page of my website and see that I have advocated repeatedly the need for greater theological understanding in the church at large. But this experience has reminded me that a church can have excellent theology and still face the same problems common to so many of our churches today.
This shows me that being a pastor is much, much more than urging a church to understand and believe what the Bible says. Its also about loving and humbly leading the people God has put under your care. If any of these are missing in a pastor and church leadership, a church is crippled and ineffective.
Pastoring is such a delicate balance. I hope that in my last year of preparation for the pastorate, God continues to show me what it means to strike that proper balance.